tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-77562153350505306412018-08-13T02:43:12.597-04:00Stacy DuBois' Tech BlogTips, tricks, and musings from a Canadian technophileStacynoreply@blogger.comBlogger167125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7756215335050530641.post-60892068754509388282017-01-08T18:07:00.004-05:002017-01-08T18:08:40.383-05:00Stop Using Windows XP!With the exception of non-networked computers running Windows XP for the sake of continued use of legacy applications... stop using Windows XP!<br /><br />After supporting the Windows XP operating system for just over a decade, Microsoft eventually decided to <a href="https://support.microsoft.com/en-ca/help/14223/windows-xp-end-of-support" target="_blank">stop rolling out updates and providing technical support</a>. Though you might have found those updates annoying and never used their support anyway, you should really heed the advice of experts and install a more current operating system. Otherwise you're potentially leaving your computer open to new threats from which you won't be automatically protected.<br /><br />What are your options?<br /><ol><li>If you want to continue using Windows, upgrade to a newer version.</li><li>Consider trying out <a href="http://www.apple.com/ca/macos" target="_blank">macOS </a>if Apple is more your speed.</li><li>Check out an open source OS like <a href="https://opensource.com/resources/what-is-linux" target="_blank">Linux</a>. They're budget-friendly and can provide you with a lot of control over your system. There are a lot of different ones to choose from but I personally enjoy using&nbsp;<a href="https://getfedora.org/" target="_blank">Fedora</a>.</li></ol><div>It's a decent new year's resolution. Keep your computer up-to-date.</div>Stacynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7756215335050530641.post-8298024514410883462015-11-02T06:17:00.000-05:002015-11-02T06:17:00.102-05:00Excel: Filter XML Using XPATH<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">Excel plays really nicely with XML (as it ought to, because XML is super cool). You might be pleased to learn that you can use XPATH expressions with a handy function called FILTERXML. It works fine for XML dumped straight into a cell, or you can apply it to a WEBSERVICE call. The function has only two arguments: the first is your XML and the second is your XPATH expression.<u></u><u></u></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">Try this very contrived example I’ve concocted to see it in action. Here’s a bit of XML you can paste into a fresh worksheet in cell A1:<u></u><u></u></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><example><title>Hello</title>&lt;<wbr></wbr>item&gt;apple</example></span></div><item>banana&lt;<wbr></wbr>/item&gt;<item>peach</item>&lt;/<wbr></wbr>example&gt;</item><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><u></u><u></u></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">Now enter this formula in any other cell, where I’m using XPATH to pull out the second item:<u></u><u></u></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">=FILTERXML(A1,"//item[2]")</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><u></u><u></u></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">That’ll give you banana!</div>Stacynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7756215335050530641.post-44063337769178919372015-10-29T06:13:00.000-04:002015-10-29T06:13:00.354-04:00SQL Server: Convert Date to YYYY/MM/DD FormatThe default format for datetime fields that a SQL Server query returns is fine for all kinds of applications, but if you’re a fan of the YYYY/MM/DD format like me then here’s how you can accomplish it using the CONVERT function:<br /><br /><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">CONVERT(VARCHAR(11),YourDateField, 111)</span><br /><br />Without this function: <span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">2015-10-19 23:00:00.000</span><br />With this function: <span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">2015/10/19</span>Stacynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7756215335050530641.post-13001633766891968042015-07-25T10:48:00.000-04:002015-07-25T10:48:09.692-04:00SQL Server: Current Date FunctionNeed the current date in your SQL statement? The <span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">GETDATE()</span> function is what you're looking for. For example, if you're writing a SELECT statement and you'd like to only return those records in which the field EventDate is in the past, you can write:<br /><br /><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">WHERE EventDate &lt; GETDATE()</span>Stacynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7756215335050530641.post-25019595323984788942015-07-15T18:32:00.001-04:002015-07-15T18:32:28.634-04:00Surviving Online UniversityDoing a university degree online isn't easy, but I've found that there are some things that you can do to improve the experience overall. Here are some tips for getting the most out of your online studies, based on the time that I spent earning my undergraduate degree in computing.<br /><div><br /></div><div><b>Make a weekly schedule and stick to it.</b></div><div>It's great having flexibility in terms of when you want to study, but set yourself some goals to accomplish each week. If your school doesn't have specific deadlines for assignments, set some for yourself and stick to them as though they weren't arbitrary. This will help you to stay on track so that you don't suddenly find yourself with a ton of work to do right at the end.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Take notes (yes - on paper)!</b></div><div>This might sound old-fashioned or just plain crazy, but trust me when I say that there is something to be gained when you write out notes on a piece of paper. Even if you don't plan on reading them again, you will find it easier to remember what you're learning if you write it down.&nbsp;<a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-learning-secret-don-t-take-notes-with-a-laptop/" target="_blank">Scientific American has an interesting article that explains the science behind this.</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Take advantage of message boards and online student communities.</b></div><div>Just because you're studying over the Internet doesn't mean that you have to be isolated. Look for fellow students through your school's web site and through other social media channels. It's great having support from other people, even if it's just to commiserate with them while you're gearing up for a stressful exam. Some schools even organize in-person events in different cities where students can meet.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Change up the scenery a bit.</b></div><div>Studying in your pyjamas at home can be super cozy but I recommend heading out and studying in some different places every now and then. There can be lots of distractions at home and you just might find it easier to get into the right frame of mind for working if you go somewhere like a public library. I used to enjoy studying at local university campuses for this reason.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Don't be afraid to get external help.</b></div><div>One thing that non-online students might take for granted is the amount of assistance that you can get from fellow students. Sometimes it can be tricky studying alone and you need someone to talk to about a particular subject. Whether it's chatting with a friend about some readings or hiring a tutor to get help with some difficult homework problems, I suggest seeking out other people for help when you need it.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Keep track of your progress.</b></div><div>Sometimes graduation can feel like an unreachable goal, especially if you choose to study on a part-time basis while you work a full-time job. I found it really satisfying to keep a list of all of the courses I was going to take and to cross them off as I finished them. Marking that last course as complete after I wrote my last exam was an amazing feeling.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Talk about your experience during job interviews.</b></div><div>An interesting part about studying online is that it demonstrates a certain set of skills that are attractive to employers. While you might be battling the stigma that is sometimes associated with pursuing a degree through distance education, tell interviewers about how you've managed to balance work from multiple courses without having anyone push you along in-person. Talk about how you're able to effectively manage your time and succeed in your studies despite having distractions at home. Finally, explain to them your success at proctored examinations. This helps to clear up the common misconception that online students do absolutely everything online and that their skills are never truly tested.<br /><br />And there you have it! As always, feel free to leave a comment here or send me an e-mail if you have any questions.</div>Stacynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7756215335050530641.post-38429277453246081472015-03-10T19:39:00.001-04:002015-03-10T19:39:39.205-04:00Excel: Generate a random integer within a given range in VBAThe other day I needed to write a bit of VBA code that involved the random selection of an integer between two numbers. Let's say you want to generate a random integer between 500 and 800. Here's how to make that happen with VBA, storing it in a variable I'm calling randomNumber:<br /><br /><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Dim randomNumber As Integer</span><br /><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Randomize</span><br /><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">randomNumber = Int((800-500+1) * Rnd + 500)</span>Stacynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7756215335050530641.post-5561856993477746072015-01-02T14:08:00.000-05:002015-01-17T17:09:38.588-05:00Excel: Use the Fill-Handle to Quickly Fill Down<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-b1DeSSED4F8/VLrdUiF9LpI/AAAAAAAAB4Q/JCFhHcOLF3A/s1600/Untitled.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-b1DeSSED4F8/VLrdUiF9LpI/AAAAAAAAB4Q/JCFhHcOLF3A/s1600/Untitled.png" height="134" width="320" /></a>Did you know that you can double-click the fill-handle in Microsoft Excel to quickly fill down cells? For example, if you enter a formula in a cell, you can double click on the fill-handle (the tiny square in the lower right-hand corner of the cell) to automatically fill your formula down to the rest of the cells in that region.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Stacynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7756215335050530641.post-47137992744020545962014-12-14T14:39:00.002-05:002014-12-14T14:48:47.518-05:00Star-Twine Campaign UpdateIf you haven't had the opportunity to play&nbsp;<a href="http://star-twine.net/" target="_blank">Star-Twine</a> yet, there's no better time than right now. It's a real-time strategy game for PC that combines addictive gameplay with stunning graphics and a compelling soundtrack, and it now has a whole campaign to play through. Sounds fun, right? Check out the trailer:<br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/mNCYyvJbkqA?rel=0" width="560"></iframe> <br /><br />So what's the game like? People ask me that and I find myself at a loss for words, which is such a rare thing when faced with the task of describing a game. Usually you can compare it to an existing game, as so many games are inspired by others (or just completely copying others). <a href="http://star-twine.net/" target="_blank">Star-Twine</a> is an innovative new game that simply cannot be likened to other games.<br /><br />Each level is made up of organic twine-like structures that stretch out across an expanse of outer space. While carefully managing your resources, you must build energy nodes, turrets, black holes, sentinels, and missile launchers to take out the enemy. Easy enough? Not quite. As you work your way through the game, you'll find an increasing need to be careful about your positioning and overall strategy. Button-mashing won't get you too far.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ebW-wO3H5ws/VI3l5x9n7vI/AAAAAAAAB3U/oQ8Jm2XQ8w8/s1600/screen2.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ebW-wO3H5ws/VI3l5x9n7vI/AAAAAAAAB3U/oQ8Jm2XQ8w8/s1600/screen2.png" height="360" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Head over to <a href="http://star-twine.net/" target="_blank">star-twine.net</a> to get your copy, and follow <a href="http://www.twitter.com/SparseGameDev" target="_blank">SpareGameDev</a> on Twitter to keep yourself in the loop. Enjoy!</div>Stacynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7756215335050530641.post-15939143975596959632014-09-16T17:23:00.000-04:002014-11-25T20:29:50.185-05:00Outlook: Missing Envelope Notification Icon on TaskbarI had an interesting problem the other day when I found that I wasn't getting the little envelope notification icon for new messages in my Windows taskbar. I immediately thought to check my Microsoft Outlook settings but was dismayed to find that the option to show the envelope was already checked off. Something else was causing it to be hidden away.<br /><br />Sound familiar? Try checking the settings of your taskbar itself, outside of Outlook. In Windows 8, you can do this by clicking the upwards-pointing arrow ('Show hidden icons') on the taskbar next to any unhidden icons and the clock. Next, click 'Customize...'.Now you have a window that will allow you to choose options for any icons you like. Scroll down until you see the envelope icon for Microsoft Outlook, and change the 'Behaviors' drop-down to 'Show icon and notifications'. Click the 'OK' button to close the window and you're all set.Stacynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7756215335050530641.post-84769971375176015552014-06-24T22:00:00.000-04:002014-11-25T20:35:13.372-05:00SCNC 2014 Opening Ceremonies SpeechI'm so grateful for the opportunity to speak to everyone at the opening ceremonies for the Skills Canada National Competition 2014 in Toronto. What an incredible event! Congratulations to everyone who participated and a huge thank you to everyone who supports this wonderful cause.<br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/2prgdU-IF44" width="560"></iframe><br /><br />Stacynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7756215335050530641.post-18944957471698827402014-03-23T22:36:00.000-04:002014-05-15T17:50:17.518-04:00Excel: How To Insert a WatermarkCan't figure out how to add a watermark to your Microsoft Excel spreadsheet?<div><br /></div><div>Don't worry, you're not alone. There actually aren't any sort of built-in watermark capabilities in Excel, but there's a handy workaround that lets you fake it. The trick is to put your watermark in as part of a header, and then it will print behind everything on every sheet.</div><div><br /></div><div>Click the 'View' tab on the ribbon, and then click on the 'Page Layout' button (in the 'Workbook Views' group). Now click at the top of the worksheet where it says 'Click to add header'. Click the 'Design' tab on the ribbon that will now have appeared, in the 'Header and Footer Tools' group.</div><div><br /></div><div>Next, click the 'Picture' icon. This will open a dialog box that will let you choose a photo to use as your watermark. Once you've selected your photo, you'll see it inserted into the header with the code '&amp;Picture'. Don't worry - it's your photo that will show up in printouts, not this code.</div><div><br /></div><div>If you want to have your watermark show up a little lower on the page, just insert some spaces before it in the header. Yes, that's a tad on the sloppy side... but this is a bit of a hack. It works! I promise.</div><div><br /></div><div>Once you've followed all of these steps, you'll be able to see your watermark in this Page Layout view, or when you actually print out the document. It will appear behind everything, just as a normal watermark would.</div>Stacynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7756215335050530641.post-86295646008016745852014-02-06T07:12:00.000-05:002014-05-15T17:29:13.986-04:00Help to Slow Down the Spread of MisinformationMisinformation spreads across the Internet at breakneck speeds thanks to the ubiquity of social media. Take a quick tour through platforms such as Facebook and Twitter and you'll surely be able to find everything from honest mistakes to deliberate lies.<br /><div><br /></div><div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qONMTl8y7IM/U3UwDnXgloI/AAAAAAAABOo/LjmdxnQC4XE/s1600/7878279184_0d4aa074de.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qONMTl8y7IM/U3UwDnXgloI/AAAAAAAABOo/LjmdxnQC4XE/s1600/7878279184_0d4aa074de.jpg" height="133" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo by <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/anieto2k/">anieto2k</a>&nbsp;/ <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/">CC BY</a></td></tr></tbody></table>Most people seem to share posts with the best of intentions. Someone see something that's relevant to their interests and decides to share it with other people in their network. Within moments, thousands of other people can be reading the same information and passing it along to an even larger number of people. What if the information is wrong, though?</div><div><br /></div><div>Unfortunately, many people fail to question the validity of the information they gather online. Instead of looking at content with a critical eye, people will blindly accept what they read as fact and pass it along to others who will eagerly absorb it with the same unquestioning attitude. This goes far beyond relatively benign old wives' tales, however. Here are some examples of popular misinformation from the Internet that have the potential to cause a fair amount of harm:</div><div><ul><li>A false advertisement supposedly from Apple that told users that the latest version of the OS would render their devices completely waterproof.&nbsp;According to reports, a number of people fell for this scam and ended up damaging their iPhones. (<a href="http://www.cbc.ca/newsblogs/yourcommunity/2013/09/iphone-users-scammed-by-fake-ios7-waterproof-ad.html" target="_blank">Read more.</a>)</li><li>A tip that has been circulating the Internet for years claims that entering your PIN number backwards at an ATM machine will call the police for you.&nbsp;This is unbelievably dangerous misinformation. Imagine if you were in danger and you decided to use this tip instead of actually calling an emergency number? (<a href="http://www.snopes.com/business/bank/pinalert.asp" target="_blank">Read more.</a>)</li><li>Fake or very outdated reports of missing children and pleas for help in finding them have been spreading across the Internet for many years. This unfortunately can take attention away from legitimate current reports, as well as cause unnecessary grief those families whose children have been found but are being recognized from circulated photos. (<a href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/171776/fake_amber_alert_wont_die_reappears_on_twitter.html" target="_blank">Read more.</a>)</li></ul><div>These are just a few of the constantly increasing pool of lies that are being shared across the Internet every day. How can you help to stop the spread? Cross-check with reliable sources. Think: Wouldn't Apple have posted about the waterproof update on their own Web site? Wouldn't banks share information about safety features with their customers? Wouldn't the AMBER alert Web site have an identical missing child report? You can also visit <a href="http://www.snopes.com/">snopes.com</a> to look up information about the story you've heard and to find out more about whether or not it's true.</div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Stacynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7756215335050530641.post-39249622730962022102013-11-04T19:42:00.000-05:002013-11-04T19:42:05.129-05:00Screen Clipping Shortcut Key for OneNote After Windows 8.1 UpdateAfter installing the Windows 8.1 update this morning, I was surprised to notice that my familiar Windows + S<b> </b>keyboard shortcut to take a screen clipping in Microsoft OneNote was no longer working. What happened?<div><br /></div><div>In Windows 8.1, Windows + S is a keyboard shortcut that will bring up a Search bar on the side of your screen. If you want to take a screen clipping instead, you'll need to press Windows + Shift + S instead.</div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-e541trfQFdA/Ung-r6wu1cI/AAAAAAAAA94/6bfcAwbWR9I/s1600/20131104_193010.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-e541trfQFdA/Ung-r6wu1cI/AAAAAAAAA94/6bfcAwbWR9I/s320/20131104_193010.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Windows + Shift + S</td></tr></tbody></table><div>Don't like having to press the extra key? Me neither. Luckily, the OneNote team posted a blog entry <a href="http://blogs.office.com/b/microsoft-onenote/archive/2013/06/27/try-windows-8-1-preview-and-bring-back-your-favorite-shortcut-key.aspx" target="_blank">here</a> that explains how to set the keyboard shortcut to Windows + A. This is a slightly more advanced process that involves making a registry edit, but you can go ahead and change the shortcut to something else if you know what you're doing. Otherwise, just stick with Windows + Shift + S.</div>Stacynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7756215335050530641.post-16301158133132612862013-06-07T22:40:00.000-04:002013-06-07T23:04:24.765-04:0019th Annual Skills Canada National CompetitionThe 19th annual Skills Canada National Competition is here at BC Place in Vancouver right now, and I'm thrilled to be here. If you've never had the opportunity to check out one of these events, then you're absolutely missing out. Students and apprentices from all across Canada come together to compete in over 40 different skilled trades and technology contests.<br /><br />Everything was kicked off officially on June 5th with the opening ceremonies over at the PNE Forum, where teams from every province and territory paraded in with their flags, cheering wildly. There are even some teams from abroad that are here to practice for <a href="http://www.worldskillsleipzig2013.com/en/" target="_blank">the upcoming WorldSkills competition in Germany</a>. We were also lucky to be joined by special visitors <a href="http://www.toolgirl.com/" target="_blank">Mag Ruffman</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://makeitright.ca/" target="_blank">Mike Holmes, and Mike Holmes Jr.</a>, who have stuck around to experience the entire competition.<br /><br />The competitors were busy at work yesterday and today at&nbsp;<a href="http://www.bcplacestadium.com/" target="_blank">BC Place</a>, with all of the excitement and intensity of the Olympics. One of the neatest things about the event is the ability to walk around and visit the different contest areas. You can check out the projects that everyone is working on, and talk with industry experts. This is my seventh year attending, and I continue to be amazed at how much I learn in such a short period of time.<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-boil2k1bTsU/UbKXwGnwvZI/AAAAAAAAA6k/fLc2oJbijRg/s1600/20130607_121029.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="font-size: 13px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-boil2k1bTsU/UbKXwGnwvZI/AAAAAAAAA6k/fLc2oJbijRg/s320/20130607_121029.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A view of the floor. The Jumbotron was showing live images from the various contests around the stadium. As you can see, there was a lot going on.</td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WzBfMchlxVg/UbJhj2_KGDI/AAAAAAAAA5Q/86emNp42Sbw/s1600/GroupPhoto.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WzBfMchlxVg/UbJhj2_KGDI/AAAAAAAAA5Q/86emNp42Sbw/s320/GroupPhoto.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-boil2k1bTsU/UbKXwGnwvZI/AAAAAAAAA6k/fLc2oJbijRg/s1600/20130607_121029.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a>From left to right: Stacy DuBois, David Boivin, and Caitlin Mayo - Team Canada 2009 Alumni at the Skills Canada National Competition in Vancouver, BC.</td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0sEoDPO1Um8/UbJ3s3DUgqI/AAAAAAAAA54/fn6TRWiZBKU/s1600/OffsetPrinting.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0sEoDPO1Um8/UbJ3s3DUgqI/AAAAAAAAA54/fn6TRWiZBKU/s320/OffsetPrinting.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Offset printing is quite the art. Competitors in this area were tasked with mixing inks to produce specific Pantone colours, and operating a mechanical printer. I was interested to find out that the life expectancy of these sorts of printers is so much longer than the kinds of printers you find in a regular office. The ink used can be separated from the paper afterwards as well, meaning that the paper can be recycled. Apparently that's not possible with toner.</td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XpMHzGUh0hs/UbJ0f41akFI/AAAAAAAAA5o/6HGZwVQHhWE/s1600/WheelAlignment.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XpMHzGUh0hs/UbJ0f41akFI/AAAAAAAAA5o/6HGZwVQHhWE/s320/WheelAlignment.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.hunter.com/" target="_blank">Hunter Engineering Company</a>'s alignment system demo - a company representative was explaining to me how their software works with information gathered from devices attached to each wheel and high resolution cameras. Matched against the specific model of the car from an extensive database, technicians can align the wheels with a very intuitive computer interface.</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fjmcGwylyIg/UbJzx4v-wpI/AAAAAAAAA5g/a3TEu1qQCBk/s1600/Robotics.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fjmcGwylyIg/UbJzx4v-wpI/AAAAAAAAA5g/a3TEu1qQCBk/s320/Robotics.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The robotics contest area is a treat for spectators. A crowd gathers to watch as teams compete head-to-head. Here you can see a robot moving a pallet into place, knocking out one of their opponents' pallets.</td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fsPWjoXrVtw/UbJ9Q8iVbfI/AAAAAAAAA6U/B14BOIwXvN0/s1600/20130606_144416.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fsPWjoXrVtw/UbJ9Q8iVbfI/AAAAAAAAA6U/B14BOIwXvN0/s320/20130606_144416.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Over at the automotive service contest area, I learned that the cars you typically see on the road today are absolutely full of little computers. Computing truly is ubiquitous today, isn't it? There are so many different industries that find a use for it. What an exciting field to be in.</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The official results will be announced tomorrow during the closing ceremonies. <a href="http://www.snwebcastcenter.com/webcast/skillscanada/20130608-player" target="_blank">Click here to check out the live stream of the event happening Saturday June 8th at 1:00 p.m. PT</a>. For more information on Skills/Compétences Canada and the awesome stuff they're doing, <a href="http://skillscompetencescanada.com/en/" target="_blank">check out their site here</a>.</div>Stacynoreply@blogger.com1Vancouver, BC, Canada49.261226 -123.113926849.09541 -123.4366503 49.427042 -122.7912033tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7756215335050530641.post-21439464753175330632013-01-13T10:43:00.000-05:002013-01-13T10:43:00.735-05:00OneNote: Stop Automatically Inserting Long Printouts on Multiple PagesOneNote 2013 has the ability to automatically insert printouts onto multiple pages for you. It's a handy new feature that could be useful in some situations, but for me it's just not a setting that I like. If you want to stop OneNote from doing this automatically and to get it to ask you each time whether you would like it on one or multiple different pages, just follow these steps:<br /><br /><ol><li>Click on the 'File' tab on the ribbon, and then choose 'Options'.</li><li>In the 'OneNote Options' window that will appear, choose 'Advanced' from the menu on the left.</li><li>Scroll down to the bottom. The second-last option is 'Insert long printouts on multiple pages'. Clear the checkmark from this box.</li></ol>Stacynoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7756215335050530641.post-92049928838850997502013-01-06T09:54:00.000-05:002013-01-10T20:38:54.590-05:00Word: Use Directory Grouping Features in Letter Mail MergeThis post is about an interesting problem that came to me by e-mail about a mail merge problem in Microsoft Word.<br /><br />Someone from a training company wanted to send out summary data about in-progress courses to every student by e-mail. As every message would require a number of different records, it seemed logical to use the 'Directory' option. That wasn't a good solution, however, as the sender wanted to be able to use the e-mail integration features of the 'Letter' option. Here's how to use some 'Directory' features using 'Letters'.<br /><br />1- Start a mail merge document using the 'Letters' option, and set up everything in your letter (including the data source).<br /><br />2 - Go to the Insert Field dialog box (not a mail merge field, but just the regular fields) and choose 'Database' from the categories. Click on the 'Insert Database' button.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JVYa4j73jKM/UOh2S3kDeZI/AAAAAAAAA1M/prqgP7xO7d0/s1600/2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="206" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JVYa4j73jKM/UOh2S3kDeZI/AAAAAAAAA1M/prqgP7xO7d0/s320/2.png" width="320" /></a></div><br />3 - Click on the 'Get Data' button, and choose the same data source that you used for your mail merge.<br /><br />4 - Click on the 'Query Options...' button. Go to the Select Fields tab and make sure the right-hand list contains only those fields that you want to see in the table.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_sQ-zJaYAQo/UOh2j4DC6qI/AAAAAAAAA1U/KWFrGp01yck/s1600/4.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="158" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_sQ-zJaYAQo/UOh2j4DC6qI/AAAAAAAAA1U/KWFrGp01yck/s320/4.png" width="320" /></a></div><br />5 - Click on the 'Filter Records' button, and set up a criteria for the UserID field to be 'Equal to' arealuserid (choose any existing UserID and put it here - you will change this later, so it doesn't matter which one you pick). Click the 'OK' button.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7sq673sX3Lc/UOh2nwqG-3I/AAAAAAAAA1c/Y6ebFx4WLDQ/s1600/5.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="158" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7sq673sX3Lc/UOh2nwqG-3I/AAAAAAAAA1c/Y6ebFx4WLDQ/s320/5.png" width="320" /></a></div><br />6 - Click on the 'Insert Data...' button, and place a checkmark in the 'Insert data as field' checkbox. Click the 'OK' button.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BjRMcwbs6Ew/UOh2q9nGJ3I/AAAAAAAAA1k/JyKdH_5cwk4/s1600/6.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BjRMcwbs6Ew/UOh2q9nGJ3I/AAAAAAAAA1k/JyKdH_5cwk4/s1600/6.png" /></a></div><br />7 - Now you should be back in your document, and you'll see a table there that shows the records for the UserID you chose. Press Alt+F9, and you'll be able to see the field codes. It will probably look like a mess. That's a good thing.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qx_BgF9-Z3I/UOh2t8q_7wI/AAAAAAAAA1s/4tDz52bsE7w/s1600/7.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="140" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qx_BgF9-Z3I/UOh2t8q_7wI/AAAAAAAAA1s/4tDz52bsE7w/s400/7.png" width="400" /></a></div><br />8 - Look right near the bottom of all of that code, and you will see a SELECT statement. In this statement, highlight where you had entered a random UserID, and now go up to your toolbar and insert the UserID mail merge field. What you're doing is setting the criteria to be equal to whichever UserID is currently being used for the mail merge. Make sure you keep the single quotes around the mail merge field and are only replacing the actual UserID.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cP_rPBui6zA/UOh2xK4UQfI/AAAAAAAAA10/JxURHuKMdUY/s1600/8.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="238" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cP_rPBui6zA/UOh2xK4UQfI/AAAAAAAAA10/JxURHuKMdUY/s400/8.png" width="400" /></a></div><br />9 - At this point, you might want to hit Alt+F9 again to stop seeing all of that code. Try to finish your mail merge, and you should see separate tables for each individual letter.<br /><ol></ol><ol></ol><ol></ol><ol></ol><ol></ol><ol></ol><ol></ol>Stacynoreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7756215335050530641.post-23646513903031245952013-01-05T14:20:00.001-05:002013-01-05T14:20:28.309-05:00Happy New Year!It's been a while, hasn't it? I'm excited to announce that tomorrow I will have a shiny new post for you all. In the meantime, I just want to wish you all a very happy New Year! 2012 brought us some very exciting advancements in technology, and I'm excited to see what 2013 has in store for us.<div><br /></div><div>To my fellow Microsoft Office addicts, please note that I am now using Microsoft Office 2013 and therefore my screenshots might look a bit odd to you if you're using earlier versions. As always, I am tagging my posts with the version of Office that I'm using because I don't maintain my older posts.</div><div><br /></div><div>Keep the e-mails coming, I love to get your questions and feedback.</div>Stacynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7756215335050530641.post-60275388750371149582012-07-18T18:54:00.000-04:002012-07-18T18:54:00.962-04:00Visio: Increase the Number of Times You Can Undo Actions<p>By default, you can use the 'Undo' button up to 20 times in a row in Microsoft Visio. After that, you're out of luck. If you're like me though, and enjoy being able to time travel a bit more, you're going to want to change that setting to the highest number possible.</p> <p>To change the setting, go to the 'File' tab, and then click 'Options'. In the 'Visio Options' window that will appear, choose 'Advanced' from the menu on the left. Now, in the first section, 'Editing Options', the 11th option from the top is 'Maximum number of undos'. Go ahead and change the number in the listbox to any number that is equal to or less than 99.</p> <p>You could also reduce the number of times that you can undo actions, but why would you want to do that? The only real advantage is that it reduces the amount of extra data sitting in memory... but that shouldn't be too much of an issue unless you're using an ancient computer.</p> <p>In any case, it's up to you - and you're free to change it any time you feel like it. Happy drawing!</p>Stacynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7756215335050530641.post-32547229425652012002012-06-11T19:09:00.000-04:002012-07-18T15:57:33.297-04:00OneNote for Android<p>It’s been a few months now since Microsoft released their official OneNote app for Android, and I’ve finally taken the time to install it on my Samsung Galaxy S II. Why did it take me so long? Well, you can probably see from the lack of frequent posting lately that I’ve been a bit busy.</p> <p>In any case, the app is fantastic. If you’ve read <a href="http://www.stacydubois.com/2011/05/onenote-keep-notebooks-synchronized.html">my previous post about how much I love OneNote</a>, then you might not be surprised to find out how excited I am about the mobile version. Between university, my full-time job, and a handful of side projects, I keep pretty busy and I’m often on the go. Being able to access my notes from any device I happen to have on hand makes keeping up with my studies very easy to manage.<br />Setting it up was a breeze, as my phone immediately knew to connect to my SkyDrive account and to give me access to my notebooks that are stored there. I was happy to see a setting that forced synchronization to only happen when connected through Wi-Fi.</p> <p>Given the freeform nature of notes, I was really curious to see how the app would display them on my phone. I have a lot of images and handwritten items scattered throughout, and I play around with different widths for my text boxes. Unfortunately, the handwritten items aren’t visible, but the app does a really clean job of displaying the text and images on the screen in a way that doesn’t have me zooming and panning like crazy.</p> <p>It’s certainly not as rich in features as the client version or the Web app, but I give it top marks for having a simple interface and for bringing my notebooks to my phone.</p> <p>If you’re late to the party like me and haven’t yet given it a shot, <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.microsoft.office.onenote&amp;hl=en">go check it out on Google Play</a>. The first 500 notes are free, which will give you the chance to play around with it and decide whether or not you want to fork over some money for unlimited use.</p>Stacynoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7756215335050530641.post-9847833989065510502012-04-09T21:31:00.004-04:002012-04-09T22:09:32.197-04:00Excel: Hide the Contents of a CellTrying to hide the contents of a cell by simply changing the fill colour of the cell and then matching the font colour so that it blends in perfectly is sometimes an acceptable solution, but you can run into problems when you start highlighting cells or applying conditional formatting. Something like <a href="http://www.stacydubois.com/2009/04/colour-striping-rows-using-conditional.html">adding in row striping</a> can cause any cell values that you've tried to hide to suddenly be revealed.<br /><br />Yes, there's a more elegant way to hide the contents of cells. You can do it without messing around with the font and fill colours, and you can do it without hiding entire rows or columns.<br /><br />First, select the cell or range of cells that you would like to hide. Right-click and choose 'Format Cells...'. Now, make sure you're in the 'Number' tab of the 'Format Cells' window that pops up. From the list on the left hand side, choose the very last option, 'Custom'. Now, to the right hand side of the window, type in three semicolons in the 'Type' text box. It should look like this:<br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-oT4w1MFouWY/T4OVImemz4I/AAAAAAAAAx8/27hR-i81puE/s1600/HideCellValues.bmp"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 363px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-oT4w1MFouWY/T4OVImemz4I/AAAAAAAAAx8/27hR-i81puE/s400/HideCellValues.bmp" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5729587125945814914" /></a><br /><br />Click the 'OK' button when you're done, and you'll see all of the values of the cells that you selected will have disappeared.<br /><br />How does it work?<br /><br />Custom number formats allow you to choose how you’d like the contents of a cell to be displayed. There are four different sections to a number format: positive numbers, negative numbers, zero values, and finally text values. When you specify a custom number format, you separate these different sections with a semi-colon. I’m not going to go into detail about how to set different number formats in today’s post, but the reason why the values are hidden when you enter ‘;;;’ as a number format is because you’ve told Excel to show nothing for positive numbers, nothing for negative numbers, nothing for zero values, and nothing for text values. The result is a cell that looks completely empty despite containing a value.Stacynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7756215335050530641.post-35912286183796996842012-03-13T06:24:00.001-04:002012-03-13T06:24:00.157-04:00Excel: Convert Temperatures Between Celsius, Fahrenheit, and KelvinIt’s not difficult to enter a formula into Microsoft Excel to convert between Celsius, Fahrenheit, and Kelvin, but why not use a built-in function to do the work for you? Meet CONVERT, a handy function that lets you convert between different units of measurement. It’s not limited to temperatures, but those are the only units I’m going to discuss in this post.<br /><br />The CONVERT function needs three pieces of information from you: the value that you would like to convert, the unit of measurement you are converting from, and the unit of measurement you are converting to.<br /><br />If the temperature is in cell A1 and is measured in Celsius, then use this formula to convert it to Fahrenheit:<br /><br style="font-family: courier new;"><span style="font-family: courier new;">=CONVERT(A1,"C","F")</span><br /><br />If the temperature is measured in Fahrenheit, then use this formula to convert it to Celsius:<br /><br /><span style="font-family: courier new;">=CONVERT(A1,"F","C")</span><br /><br />Use the same function but replace the “F” (Fahrenheit) or “C” (Celsius) with a “K” if you are looking to convert to Kelvin. For example, this formula will convert a temperature from Fahrenheit to Kelvin:<br /><br /><span style="font-family: courier new;">=CONVERT(A1,"F","K")</span><br /><br />Make sense? Feel free to post a comment if you’re having trouble.Stacynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7756215335050530641.post-72010049706913781582012-02-29T05:10:00.001-05:002012-02-29T05:10:00.469-05:00Excel: Leap Year FormulaTrying to figure out if a date occurs during a leap year in Microsoft Excel? It's February 29th, and I have decided to post a formula that will help you to quickly determine this for any given date.<br /><br />If cell A1 contains the year alone (e.g. '2012'), then the following formula will return 'TRUE' if it is a leap year (and 'FALSE' if it isn't):<br /><br /><span style="font-family: courier new;">=IF(OR(MOD(A1,400)=0,AND(MOD(A1,4)=0,MOD(A1,100)&lt;&gt;0)),TRUE,FALSE)</span><br /><br />If cell A1 contains an entire date (e.g. '2/29/2012'), then you will want to adjust your formula to use only the year portion of the date:<br /><br /><span style="font-family: courier new;">=IF(OR(MOD(YEAR(A1),400)=0,AND(MOD(YEAR(A1),4)=0,MOD(YEAR(A1),100)&lt;&gt;0)),TRUE,FALSE)</span>Stacynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7756215335050530641.post-62507030232524402072012-02-06T22:48:00.001-05:002012-02-06T22:48:00.061-05:00Word: Slow Scrolling Fix for Image-Heavy DocumentsThis week I had an e-mail from someone who was frustrated with how it had become so slow to scroll through one of his Microsoft Word documents. I immediately asked if there were a lot of images in it, and he replied to say that it was absolutely full of high-resolution pictures.<br /><br />If you've ever worked with an image-heavy document, you might have experienced this problem with slow scrolling. The good news is that you can speed it up again if you're willing to temporarily make all of those images invisible.<br /><br />Go to the 'File' tab, and then choose 'Options'. From the options on the left-hand side of the window that pops up, choose 'Advanced'. Now scroll down to the 'Show document content' section, and place a checkmark next to 'Show picture placeholders'. When you're done, press the 'OK' button.<br /><br />By choosing this option, you're letting Word show empty boxes instead of loading every single image. You should find that scrolling is no longer quite as painful.<br /><br />Unfortunately, there is one catch: this will only work for images that have the wrapping set to 'In Line with Text'. If the wrapping is any other kind, setting the placeholder option will not have any effect.Stacynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7756215335050530641.post-16567461438449608972012-01-22T18:03:00.003-05:002012-01-22T18:16:33.494-05:00Outlook: Synchronize with Google CalendarDo you use Google Calendar and Microsoft Outlook? If you're using Outlook 2003/2007/2010 and Windows XP (32-bit, not 64-bit)/Vista/7, there's a tool called Google Calendar Sync that you can use to keep your calendars synchronized.<div><br /></div><div>First, follow this link and download the application:</div><div><a href="http://dl.google.com/googlecalendarsync/GoogleCalendarSync_Installer.exe">http://dl.google.com/googlecalendarsync/GoogleCalendarSync_Installer.exe</a></div><div><br /></div><div>When you're setting it up, you'll have the ability to choose how you would like it to synchronize. Your three options are:</div><div><ul><li>2-way - Any events in Outlook will show up in Google Calendar, and vice versa.</li><li>1-way: Google Calendar to Microsoft Outlook calendar - Events in Google Calendar will be synchronized with your Microsoft Outlook calendar.</li><li>1-way: Google Calendar to Microsoft Outlook calendar - Events in your Microsoft Outlook calendar will be synchronized with Google Calendar.</li></ul><div>I like this tool because it helps me keep everything up-to-date between my personal calendar and my work calendar. The different options for synchronizing mean that I can keep my own personal calendar up-to-date without bringing all of my personal events onto my work calendar.</div></div>Stacynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7756215335050530641.post-85038055385143724212012-01-06T19:14:00.000-05:002012-01-06T19:14:00.915-05:00Outlook: Get Rid of Items Stuck in OutboxEver had something stuck in the Outbox folder of Microsoft Outlook and gotten this lovely message when you try to get rid of it?:<br /><br />"Can't open this item. Outlook has already begun transmitting this message."<br /><br />It's an annoyance, for sure. Sometimes this can happen if you, like I did today, misjudged the size of your attachments and your server is suddenly struggling to send a massive e-mail. The irritating thing is that Outlook doesn't seem to have a mechanism in place to tell it, "Wait! I don't want to send that e-mail anymore!".<br /><br />Here's how to delete the e-mail from your Outbox, or at least have the ability to open it and to get rid of the gigantic attachment(s). Go to the 'Send/Receive' tab on the ribbon, and click on the 'Work Offline' button. You're temporarily preventing Outlook from trying to send the e-mail, which should allow you to go to your Outbox and then open, edit, or delete the offending message as you please. When you're ready to go again, just go back to the 'Send/Receive' tab, and click the 'Work Offline' button once more to go back online.<br /><br />Phew!Stacynoreply@blogger.com1